McLaughlin, Sisseton carry area hopes into State A tourney

March 18, 2009|BY DEB SMITH

Sisseton and McLaughlin were not always the favored team during the season, but both came through with post-season wins to advance to the State A boysÂ? high school basketball tournament Thursday through Saturday at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City.

Sisseton defeated Aberdeen Roncalli 36-34 in the region and McLaughlin downed Chamberlain 57-48. McLaughlin (16-5), the eight seed, opens the tournament Thursday at noon (MDT) against the top seed from Madison (21-2). Sisseton (16-5), the six seed, closes out the action on the first day at 7:45 p.m. (MDT) against Red Cloud (19-3), the three seed.

Sisseton and Red Cloud have a history after meeting last year at the state tournament and again this season at the Hanson Classic in Mitchell. Last year, Red Cloud beat Sisseton 77-57 in the third place game at state. In January, Red Cloud posted an 87-76 win over the Redmen. Carl Swallow, the Crusaders leading scorer, scored 22 points and four other players hit double figures in the earlier meeting.

Trey Frederick led the Redmen with 27 points and Dustin Lotzer tossed in 25.

Red Cloud graduated five senior starters from last yearÂ?s team but still came back and won the West River Conference. Swallow averages 19 points and Breye Cottier drops in 18.6 per game. The other starters average between seven and nine points. Henry Crow averages 11.8 points in a reserve role.

Â?They like to shoot the three,Â? said Sisseton coach Adam Nelson, who is in his first season as the head coach after three seasons as an assistant. Â?WeÂ?ll have to play an honest defense and contest the three. We did not do a good job of contesting the three and gave up 18. We want to keep them in front of us and get a hand up.Â?

Sisseton doesnÂ?t have much depth but relies on a trio of players for a majority of its offense. Frederick (20.5 points per game), Lotzer (14.3) and Brandon Haug (15.5) are the top guns for the Redmen. The other starters are Lance Haug and Garret Leverson. The reserve players are Devin Tohm, Ryan Toelle and Nick Metz.

Â?Dustin is tall at six-four. He plays long and lanky. Brandon, our sophomore, has been playing well for us. With Trey, we have a good one-two-three punch. Trey makes us go. He brings energy. Trey gets up the floor and gets everybody involved. HeÂ?s unselfish and quietly gets his points,Â? said Nelson.

After a three-game losing streak at midseason, Sisseton has rebounded to win 10 straight games.

The Redmen tied with Roncalli and Clark-Willow Lake for the Northeast Conference title.

Weather shortened the regular season for McLaughlin but playing good basketball extended the post-season for the Midgets.

The last two regular season games were cancelled because of adverse weather, so the Midgets ended up completing the regular season with two losses.

Â?As the season progressed, our kids really bought into our defense,Â? said McLaughlin coach Hank Taken Alive. Â?I have been preaching to the kids that if they want to get to the state tournament, they have to play defense and they really bought into it. We play man-to-man defense 95 percent of the time.Â?

The Midgets, who score 66 points a game, have four starters who average eight points per game or more. Vance Taken Alive leads the way with 22.1 points per game, followed by Julian Defender (17.7), Martin Taken Alive (11.0) and Hank Taken Alive (8.8).

Â?These kids are gym rats. I made sure I didnÂ?t over-coach them. I taught them whatÂ?s a good shot and whatÂ?s a bad shot. WeÂ?re not very big. Our biggest is six-one. We play pretty good half court offense. We can run and get up and down the floor. I feel weÂ?re versatile,Â? said coach Hank Taken Alive.

McLaughlin understands that it has a tall order in the first round against Madison, which is led by South Dakota State recruits Tony Fiegen and Chad White. Â?TheyÂ?re the favorite to win the tournament,Â? said the McLaughlin coach. Â?They have tall kids and two are going to SDSU. I think their guards are as big as our big guys. WeÂ?ll give it our all and have some fun. If we can play defense and rebound, we could hang with them.Â?